


A Lack of Color

by Skylark



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Artists, Battle Subway, F/M, First Meetings, Flirting, Growing Up, Late Night Conversations, Modeling, Photography, Pokemon Battle, Pokemon Journey, Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-08 23:19:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylark/pseuds/Skylark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she's fifteen she meets a boy her age with dark eyes and a subtle smile. (A collection of Unova flashfics.)</p><p>01: Elesa/Burgh.<br/>02: Bianca/Cheren & White/Black.<br/>03: Red/Touya, Touya/Touko.<br/>04: Elesa/Burgh.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lioness [ Elesa/Burgh ]

**Author's Note:**

> Before the official names were released, I called the protags White and Black like the rest of the fandom did. Once their names were released, though, I really came to like them! ...So you might see some flipping around of names from fic to fic, depending on the age of the story in question.
> 
> I'd also like to mention that my characterization of Hilda/White is quite different from the rest of the fandom, I think...in my head she's not Hilbert's sister. Instead, she's a street rat who grew up in the battle subway, and she's all sharp points and rough edges. I hope you can enjoy my take on her, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [Kuruk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuruk/gifts). My Elesa characterization is fairly different from the rest of the fandom, too, though that's not super apparent here so it probably shouldn't matter. (In my mind, Elesa is all fangs and sharp edges.)

"What do you _mean_ you forgot to take a photo?” his friend shouts at him. All Burgh can do is stammer excuses, each one flimsier than the last. “That was the best piece of the night,” his friend rages, “I’ll have to contact _Glamorous_ and pray that they let us buy a copy of their photos! Teaches me to trust an art school dropout—”

"You can still trust me," Burgh cuts her off. "I’ll—pull some strings, hold on, just let me make some phone calls."

His friend, the director of photography for _Electra_ Magazine, rolls her eyes. “I’m not going to hold my breath,” she tells him, “But do what you want.”

\--

Three called-in favors from the league later, he’s lined up a private photoshoot with Elesa’s fashion house for the outfit he’d missed the night before. But Elesa herself, he’s told, has traveled to Sinnoh for Sunyshore’s fashion week. “Give me her number,” he begs her manager.

"I’ll tell her to call you—"

"No, it’s—" It’s about the sight of Elesa swaying down the catwalk in six-inch heels; it’s about the camera slipping from his fingers as a million images crowd his head, begging to be painted. "It’s very important," he says, "Please, let me call her."

The agent hums and takes his number, despite his pleading.

\--

"It’s rare that a gym leader would want to hire me," Elesa says. Her voice is more ordinary than he expected, stripped of her beauty and the grace of her movements. "What can I do for you?"

Burgh tells her his plan for a private photoshoot, and names a sum that would be enough to tempt anyone, he thinks. Her laugh is scornful. “I don’t care about _money_ ,” she says. “Make me an offer.”

Burgh hesitates, but then words flood from his mouth. “I’ll paint you, too,” he tells her, “I’ll paint the parts of you that no one else can.”

"Oh? And what would those be?"

"You’re a predator," he says.

There’s a long pause, and she hangs up without another word. He stares at his phone with a sinking feeling in his stomach before Elesa’s agent calls him back. “Elesa will meet you at her home in Nimbasa at seven PM tomorrow,” the woman says, confused. “She says, ‘Don’t be late.’”

"I won’t," Burgh says, already trying to imagine what colors will be able to capture the coolness of her stare.


	2. Evolution [ Bianca/Cheren, Hilda/Hilbert ]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For patcchi. Prompt: "People grow up so fast these days." Sorry I couldn't write N—I don't know enough about him yet! I hope White is an acceptable substitute.

Bianca's eyes shine in a way that Cheren's not familiar with. It's not like when they play video games or chinese checkers, when she talks about school or fashion or things Cheren barely comprehends. Bianca turned thirteen two days ago, and since then, the light in her eyes hasn't gone out.

 _I'm going to travel,_ Bianca whispers to him over the phone, late at night, and he understands.

\--

For her thirteenth birthday, White's present to herself is to fight in the Battle Subway until she and her team are utterly exhausted. She and her Pokémon both end up staying overnight at the pokémon center, beaten and bruised.

When she's fifteen she meets a boy her age with dark eyes and a subtle smile. She guides him through the twisting tunnels, seeing only familiar faces. They beat everyone they come across. She hardly breaks a sweat.


	3. Candy [ Red/Touya ], Like a G6 [ Touko/Touya ]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One sentence fic attempts for the challenge at pokanon @ LJ.

**Red/Touya, "[Candy](http://pokanon.livejournal.com/517.html?thread=5096197#t5096197)"**

Touya wants to send letters but knows Red will never reply, so instead he sends saltwater taffy, casteliacone creams, red boxes tied with whatever he can find (gossamer scarves, Touko's discarded ribbons, fraying twine). 

He's shocked by the small box of Celadon caramels that arrives on his doorstep two years later, a black box looped with a lopsided bow.

 

* * *

**Touko/Touya, "[Like a G6](http://pokanon.livejournal.com/517.html?thread=5096709#t5096709)"**

Touko is cast in the lights-and-darks that flash through the subway windows, hips swaying as she struts down the center of the roaring train like it's a catwalk, humming something low under her breath—her teeth flash when she smiles: "Come on, kid," she says, fingers curling on Touya's hipbones, "Let me see you fly."


	4. Midnight Rail [ Elesa/Burgh ]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally written 24 August 2011. Again, my Elesa characterization is pretty different from the rest of fandom...

"I only have five minutes," Elesa says, flooded by a streetlamp's spotlight. Her expression is bored, as always, but her gaze is sharp.

Burgh leans against the metal pole, arms folded, loose and casual.

"I had fun," he says, so inane that it catches her by surprise. Her eyes narrow, trying to tell if he's lying. He merely smiles.

The train pulls up, cutting off any chance of further conversation. Elesa turns away then, staring at the cars as they whistle past.

A light tug pulls her attention back. Burgh holds one of her antenna hostage, his fingers tangled in the wire. He lifts the white-tipped end to his mouth and presses a kiss to it, long and lingering, his eyes sliding closed as his lips move across the smooth casing.

When he lowers the cord, her eyes stay on his lips.

"Good night," she reads, his voice drowned out by the train's shrieking brakes. He releases the antenna like a butterfly, and she feels the weight of it as it swings back to her side. 

Without a word, she turns and strides onto the train. By the next stop, her fingers have found the place where his lips touched.


End file.
